Hit-and-run driver kills Rutgers student days before graduation, cops say

LINDEN — A Rutgers student who was just days away from receiving his diploma was struck and killed early Friday while crossing a city road.

Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said Mujahid Henry, 23, of Newark, was thrown into a parked car after he was truck by a 2007 Ford Escape driven by Eduardo Perez, 33, of Elizabeth. Henry was crossing Linden Avenue around 12:30 a.m.

Perez was located and arrested shortly after the crash. His truck was found on Lidgerwood Avenue after hitting several parked vehicles, according to Park. Perez was was charged with death by auto and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor said in a statement Henry earned his bachelor's degree in January the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers-Newark and was to receive his diploma at Sunday's commencement ceremony. "Beloved and admired by student peers, faculty, and staff alike, Mujahid was a Newark resident who had transferred from Essex County College. Undoubtedly a star on the rise, he was characteristically hard-working, aspiring to earn a graduate degree and go into politics, amazing all around him with the energy that enabled him to be such a success in college while holding down two jobs and volunteering in support of local public officials," Cantor said

His sister Maryam is a first-year student in the Rutgers-Newark College of Arts & Sciences

This incident remains under investigation, and anyone with information is being urged to contact Linden Police Department Investigator Ian Conk at 908-474-8505.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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